This invention relates generally to solar energy and, more particularly, to the collection of solar energy through the use of Fresnel lenses in various configurations.
Numerous devices for harnessing the sun's energy are well known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,826 is directed to a conventional fiber optic solar energy collector employing a matrix of lenses mounted in a fixed position. One or two plates placed in the focal plane of the lenses are moved to track the sun's position during the daylight hours. U.S. Pat. No. 7,295,372 is directed to an apparatus for collecting and transmitting sunlight into a space. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0165358 is directed to a fiber optic connection system including compact bundles of light guides with sections having a reduced interstitial area. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0137640 is directed to a solar energy collecting system that tracks the sun and maintains a constant focal point for condensing the sun's rays into a high-energy beam that is then redirected to a predetermined location for use in well-known applications such as electrical power, heat, or steam generation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,197 is directed to a solar energy collector employing fiber optic cables and a mechanical sun tracking and orienting positioner. These prior art solar energy collection systems are disadvantageous in that they involve complex mechanical arrangements for tracking the sun's position.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a multiplicity of Fresnel lenses are attached to tubular branches of a tree-like support structure. Fiber optic bundles are connected to the Fresnel lenses and routed inside the tubular branches and are collected as a larger fiber optic bundle inside a main trunk structure to which each of the branches is connected. The larger fiber optic bundle may be coupled directly or by means of a fiber optic transmission network to an external energy receiving device for further processing of the collected solar energy.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a skeletal hemispherical dome solar energy collector structure includes a plurality of main beams in the form of inverted semicircular hoops of differing graduated diameter positioned parallel to each other. A plurality of transverse beams are connected in spaced apart, staggered positions between adjacent ones of the main beams to provide support therefore. The space between each adjacent pair of the transverse beams and the adjacent pair of the main beams to which they are connected serves to retain a Fresnel lens inserted therein. Alternatively, a single Fresnel lens may occupy the area between adjacent main beams, or a single larger Fresnel lens may form the hemispherical surface of the collector structure.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the hemispherical dome structure of the preceding paragraph is repeated as domes of decreasing diameter to form a nested hemispherical dome solar collector structure that includes an outer dome and one or more inner domes nested concentrically thereunder, the innermost dome serving as a collection dome. Each of the inner domes is sized and positioned such that its surface lies on the focal point of the next larger dome. This arrangement results in the multiplication of solar energy focused through each of the domes to a collection area within the innermost dome containing a fiber optic collection network.